It took an entire half before a fire was lit under the Duncan Demons in their game against Ardmore Monday night. Unfortunately for the Demons, the damage had been done.
Ardmore rode an 11-point first half lead and held on to defeat Duncan on the road 67-65. The Tigers, No. 6 in the Class 5A ratings, improved to 13-7 while the Demons fell to 9-8.
Rico Murph scored seven points in the first quarter as Ardmore took a 17-10 lead. Duncan trailed by as many as eight in the early going when Murph knocked down a 3-pointer to quiet the Demon crowd.
Domonique Petties got the Demons on track with seven points of his own in the second quarter. The Tigers raced up and down the court to add to their lead. Nino Jackson had a slam dunk that pushed the Tiger lead to 10 at 29-19.
Ardmore spread the scoring around with five players scoring in the quarter and took a 37-36 lead into the half.
“They are really athletic but so are we,” Duncan coach Mikel Davison said. “We had a sluggish first half before we finally decided to play.”
A loose ball off an Ardmore miss sent Demons and Tigers to the floor. When it was all said and done, the players on the court had to be separated. And Duncan found its rhythm.
Trailing 48-36, Petties and Jared Griffin scored 10 of the Demons’ next 11 points as Duncan closed the gap to 50-47 at the end of the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Griffin stole a pass and drove the hoop for a lay-up and a foul. He hit the free throw to tie the game at 54. Ardmore was able to push its lead back to five but Duncan kept hanging around.
The Demons got as close as two late, but trailed by four after Daniel McCoy’s pass was intercepted with 6.7 seconds to go.
Griffin was able to steal the Ardmore inbounds pass and take it to the hoop for a lay-up with :02 left on the clock. Ardmore let the clock run out without throwing the ball in and the Tigers held on for the two-point victory.
“It took the whole first half to light a fire under our butt,” Davison said. “We got into it there with those guys and we finally started playing but it was too little, too late.
“We just have to let it go. It’s not often that you get a second chance in life, but we get to go to Ardmore Friday night. With Altus tomorrow, we have to move on from this game, get after it with Altus and then go get them (Ardmore) against Friday.”
Petties was the leading scorer for the Demons with 21 points. Griffin added 19 and Dylan Dismuke had 10. Ardmore had four players in double figures. Jackson scored 16 and center Cody Nall had 14. Murph added 13 and Tylan Herbert finished with 10.
The Demons host Altus tonight following the girls game at 6 p.m. Duncan travels to Ardmore Friday to try to avenge its loss.
— Ben Whitehead is a sports writer for The Duncan Banner. He can be reached at 255-5354, Ext. 165, or via e-mail at ben.whitehead@duncanbanner.com.
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